All about garden

Syngonium podophyllum

Syngonium podophyllum is a simple but elegant and versatile houseplant. It's actually "Easy" to look after in most homes, however because it has a unruly nature and tendency to creep quietly around your home (if allowed).

Common Name: White-Veined Arrowhead Vine

Botanical Name: Syngonium podophyllum

Design Ideas: It may be a good idea to grow the arrowhead plant in a hanging basket, the plant can be trained on a pole or trellis for support.

Important Note: All parts of the plant are poisonous. Know where all parts of the plant are growing and creeping around, especially if you have curious children or hungry pets around.

Syngonium Care Instructions

Light: When it comes to light requirements they will do well in a position where they receive good light but no direct sunlight.

Watering: Just remember to water well and then wait. Simple.

The soil needs to be evenly moist when you water, waiting for the soil to dry a little before evenly watering again.

Humidity: Humidity is some what important, because very dry air will encourage brown leaf crisping which on mass will distract from the beautiful leaves.

Feeding: It's good to try and feed an established plant a few times a month. Like most house plants Syngoniums do "rest" in winter but for only a short period. Therefore it's fine to feed in winter too if you want.

Temperature: This is one house plant which needs to be at the heart of your home because it demands warmth, even in cold months.  A minimum of 16°C / 61°F.

Repotting: They do pretty well in small pots, however if you are watering more frequently or growth has slowed (and you want more), repot into a bigger pot during spring using any standard compost mix.

Propagation:  You can do root cuttings in water, or straight into potting compost. You want a new growth shoot that either has one or two leaves already. Follow the growth shoot downwards several inches until you reach a pair of "nodes", these are a set of two small bumps (one on each side of the stem). The cut needs to be made just a few centimetres below the nodes because this is where the new roots come from. If you are rooting using water, it's just a case of dropping the cutting in and keeping the water topped up. A few weeks later you will hopefully start to see new roots. 

Speed of Growth: A Syngonium will grow steadily for much of the year provided it has good conditions. Left unchecked a stray vine can creep several feet in only a few months.

Height / Spread:  A well trained mature plant growing up a moss stick will, give you 1.8m / 6ft in height and a maximum spread of 60cm / 2ft. 

Flowers: There are flowers which appear on mature plant, although they aren't very exciting or interesting. The key selling point of this particular house plant is the foliage.